By Kathryn Wightman-Beaven
National PwC Foundation Director
Here in the pages of the PwC Foundation’s fifth annual report you will discover the answer. Not only will you see what we have been doing this past year to make a positive imprint on our social and physical environment. You will understand why we’re doing it.
Sam DiPiazza, our Global CEO, has expressed part of what motivates us - the determination to be responsible leaders. He says: "PwC is not just a business but an influential member of global society. We are acutely aware that this membership brings its own responsibilities. As business leaders, we have a shared concern that we need to define our own role in society and recognise that leadership encompasses more than business skills - it requires broader social and emotional awareness.”
As our firm and the world around us have changed over the past five years, our commitment to social responsibility has taken on many new dimensions. No longer satisfied with one-off philanthropic gestures, our people are investing increasing amounts of their time, money, energy and skills in long-term community and environmental projects with an eye on sustainability.
In alliance with our not-for-profit partners, we have begun addressing some of the most challenging and deep-rooted problems in our society. Consider our Elevate program, operated in partnership with Mission Australia, an organisation that creates opportunities for the most vulnerable young people in our society. These are people who may be at the margins of society who often lack any kind of support network and therefore easily get left behind, even in times of economic prosperity.
Elevate is a co-coaching program that harnesses the leadership potential of young people, something very much in keeping with our own philosophy of optimising the talent within our organisation. Moreover, our intimate involvement with programs such as Elevate gives us the chance to develop our own people’s coaching and responsible leadership skills.
Elevate advances the leadership potential of young people as they progress through key stages in their lives. There are many personal accounts of how the program has helped change young people’s lives by giving them the confidence to pursue their ambitions. You may have read in last year’s report, for instance, 18-year-old Sammi Booth’s moving story of how Elevate transformed her from a shy introverted person into a bold, confident individual. And you might recall Chris Gore’s journey that culminated in his speech to the 2006 Partner’s conference.
Those who attended will also find it hard to forget this year’s memorable Sydney Elevate Graduation ceremony, where young people from the program and their coaches performed the Ashford & Simpson song containing the apt lyrics: "Ain’t no mountain high enough…”
PwC’s partnership with Mission Australia makes sense because our values are in alignment. PwC’s approach to social responsibility, in fact, is very close to the outlook of Maimonides, the 12th-century scholar, who said: "Anticipate charity by preventing poverty.” Elevate itself fits well with that perspective, helping young people gain the skills, expertise and leadership qualities they need to be able to determine their own future.
Over the past five years, social awareness, social responsibility and community engagement have become an increasingly important aspect of the firm’s culture. This is the result of our people’s passion for worthy causes along with their willingness to give generously of their time and resources.
The wide range of activities our people are engaged in also demonstrates that social responsibility means a lot more than donating money. It means actively participating and sharing in the sustainability of the community. What is more, we understand that there is no necessary contradiction between helping society and helping ourselves. As Michael Porter, a leading light on corporate social responsibility (CSR), once put it: "It is about creating a shared value - that is, a meaningful benefit for society that is also valuable to the business.”
As we have moved along the curve from individual charitable donations to working with the not-for-profit sector towards long-term, sustainable growth, our role has become more akin to a trusted business partner. A good illustration is our relationship with Social Ventures Australia (SVA).
When we launched our partnership with SVA five years ago, the PwC Foundation agreed to financially support the growth and development of three start-up social enterprises, OzGreen, Active and School Aid Trust. Our efforts helped these enterprises achieve financial stability, as well as to develop a diverse range of income sources to support their future growth. As a result, these enterprises are self-sustainable and continue to grow.
We also partnered with Brisbane City Council and SVA to fund and develop Australia’s first social enterprise hub. The idea was to move away from individual funding of enterprises to more broad-based funding and support for growth and development of the social enterprise sector as a whole in a model that we aim to replicate across Australia.
The first year of the Business Enterprise Hub has proven a huge success, with ten enterprises receiving support, resources and guidance. Not only are they now trading as social enterprises, these organisations employ many people who tend to be marginalised from society. PwC is proud to be at the forefront of this new business model that is shaping and defining the growth of Australia’s social enterprise sector.
Once again, there is a benefit to PwC too. Since our people act as mentors to the CEOs of these enterprises, we develop a richer understanding of wider social issues, which in turn adds significant value to our wider team and client relationships.
To return to the question at the start: why bother? It’s simple. The world around us is changing fast. Each day we hear more about the damaging effects of climate change, that one in ten Australians live below the poverty line and the increasing strain on our health services, to name but a few significant challenges. These are things that, in some way or other, can affect us all. We have a choice: either we can stand by as they happen, or take responsibility and get involved.
It’s unlikely that we can effect big changes in the world overnight, or in some cases even in a year or decade. But we can look ahead and help define and shape the future, which is what PwC has started doing. In working closely with our not-for-profit partners, we get a better sense of what actions need to be taken, not only on the individual level but as an influential business. We can measure the impact of our efforts, and use this awareness to achieve more in partnership with community organisations, the government, the public and each other.
As you read this annual report, you will discover how we are already making a big difference in some areas. Look, for instance, at our work with Save the Children in Mozambique, or closer to home with Urban Seed in the backstreets of Melbourne, or how we’re supporting essential research at the Heart Foundation. These things matter a great deal to our people. And that’s exactly why PwC bothers.
“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop…”
Mother Theresa |
